The F-22 is Seeing Action After Seven Years

A mere seven years after it was declared fit for combat operations — and then repeatedly grounded for operational issues — the F-22 Raptor has finally had its first taste of war in the skies over Islamic State (IS) territory in Syria.

The F-22 fleet has been quietly deployed to a UAE airbase since 2012, originally as a deterrent against Iran's nuclear aspirations. However, early Tuesday morning these weapons of war streaked across the Syrian sky and bombed an IS stronghold. You can see video of the strike, recorded by the plane's onboard synthetic aperture radar over at The Aviationist. [D1]